(a) There is hereby created a trust fund in the State Treasury to be known as the Agrichemical Incident Response Trust Fund. Any funds received by the Director of Agriculture from the mandates of Section 13.1 shall be deposited with the Treasurer as ex-officio custodian and held separate and apart from any public money of this State, with accruing interest on the trust funds deposited into the trust fund. Disbursement from the fund for purposes as set forth in this Section shall be by voucher ordered by the Director and paid by a warrant drawn by the State Comptroller and countersigned by the State Treasurer. The Director shall order disbursements from the Agrichemical Incident Response Trust Fund only for payment of the expenses authorized by this Act. Monies in this trust fund shall not be subject to appropriation by the General Assembly but shall be subject to audit by the Auditor General. Should the program be terminated, all unobligated funds in the trust fund shall be transferred to a trust fund to be used for purposes as originally intended or be transferred to the Pesticide Control Fund. Interest earned on the Fund shall be deposited in the Fund. Monies in the Fund may be used by the Department of Agriculture for the following purposes: (1) for payment of costs of response action incurred by owners or operators of agrichemical facilities as provided in Section 22.3 of this Act;(2) for the Department to take emergency action in response to a release of agricultural pesticides from an agrichemical facility that has created an imminent threat to public health or the environment;(3) for the costs of administering its activities relative to the Fund as delineated in subsections (b) and (c) of this Section; and(4) for the Department to:(B) administer the Agrichemical Facility Response Action Program .The total annual expenditures from the Fund for these purposes under this paragraph (4) shall not be more than $120,000, and no expenditure from the Fund for these purposes shall be made when the Fund balance becomes less than $750,000.
(b) The action undertaken shall be such as may be necessary or appropriate to protect human health or the environment.(c) The Director of Agriculture is authorized to enter into contracts and agreements as may be necessary to carry out the Department's duties under this Section.(d) Neither the State, the Director, nor any State employee shall be liable for any damages or injury arising out of or resulting from any action taken under this Section.Amended by P.A. 098-0692,§ 130, eff. 7/1/2014.